Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Will the GOP Wake Up or Go Down the Path of Rhetoric to Mask Their True Agenda?

Do you want to know how hard it is to still be a Common Sense Republican? Watch what General Powell is telling leadership of the GOP who are not listening. If the GOP won't listen to Colin Powell, they certainly are not going to listen to any of us who they consider throw aways if we don't support their hard right agenda.

Some Republican comments from yesterday about President Obama's Inauguration made me cringe - then there was this morning. Found it pretty shallow out of Senator Coburn (R-OK) to be telling Joe Scarborough that President Obama should have reached out to Republicans more to bring everyone together. Coburn was one of the ones who attended the GOP meeting with Gingrich and Luntz four years ago on Inauguration night to determine how to obstruct the President for four years and in the end they obstructed the American people sending our economy down the tube. Will never understand why Senator Coburn was with that group four years ago. Has he apologized to the President for being part of that group?

Late last night it was reported that the GOP hard right Senate in VA had passed redistricting for VA General Assembly districts while one of the VA Civil Rights leaders was attending the Inauguration -- no hearings, no mention before it happened. It was done in secrecy against the VA Constitution but why let that stand in the way when you want to cheat at the state level for redistricting like the GOP did for Congressional seats. Despicable out of the Senate GOP in VA. Will it hold up -- not likely. Their stunt was done without the Governor who is not happy:

The move apparently came as a surprise even to Virginia's Republican governor, Bob McDonnell, who TPM described as "non-committal on the new maps," possibly because of the power play's problematic optics.

There is a lot of blow back in VA this morning that could have an adverse affect on the Republican in the Governor's race. Not only is leadership in some state legislatures hard right but they are not very bright to think this could stand up against the light of day and that Democrats were just going to roll over. It gets even worse as redistricting is only allowed by the VA Constitution ever ten years which was rewritten in 2004. That window has shut but Constitutions, laws, rules, etc. don't seem to apply to today's Republican legislators at all levels:

Members of the House of Representatives of the United States and members of the Senate and of the House of Delegates of the General Assembly shall be elected from electoral districts established by the General Assembly. Every electoral district shall be composed of contiguous and compact territory and shall be so constituted as to give, as nearly as is practicable, representation in proportion to the population of the district. The General Assembly shall reapportion the Commonwealth into electoral districts in accordance with this section in the year 2011 and every ten years thereafter.

This one is headed for Court if the Governor/Attorney General do not step in to stop the GOP runaway train heading over the cliff.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) addressed supporters in a frantically toned email on Monday, warning them of a looming effort to snatch up their guns.

"You and I are literally surrounded. The gun-grabbers in the Senate are about to launch an all-out-assault on the Second Amendment. On your rights. On your freedom," reads the opening of the email, according to The Hill.

"[T]hey're coming for your guns," the email exhorts.

So much for McConnell willing to even consider any gun control -- guess his charade as reasonable is over. Wait, there is a new wrinkle as McConnell is trolling for dollars for his campaign:

And the email pledges that McConnell will oppose any extended gun-control measures, asking supporters to sign a petition opposing the expanded measures outlined in the email.

McConnell's campaign also launched a phone recording last week of the senator pledging to block gun-control measures, which went out to gun owners and hunters across Kentucky, according to USA Today.

When supporters sign that pledge, the site redirects to a page to donate to McConnell's campaign.

So in today's GOP it is okay to lie to your constituents if you are raising campaign funds? That is how it is coming across when the GOP leader of the Senate sends out garbage he knows is a lie all to raise funds when he is already sitting on millions. McConnell could do the American people a favor and retire at the end of this term but his arrogance means he will do anything to win including lying, cheating, and stealing an election if he needs to get votes to win. I put nothing past McConnell.

Note: I had little respect for McConnell when I was a staunch Republican as I held the view he was the wrong person to lead the Senate for Republicans. When his wife was in the Bush cabinet and he was Majority Leader it seemed like a conflict of interest. Didn't like Senator Lott either but I did like Sen Frist from TN. McConnell morphed into a rabid Tea Party person to get reelected which shows his election is more important then Kentucky or the United States.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a member of leadership, said the speech was "mostly 30,000-foot stuff" that did not extend any olive branches to the GOP.

"It did seem that he wasn't doing the kind of outreach that he needs to do if he wants to get things accomplished in a second term," Thune said. "We'll see how it's received."

Why would President Obama extend an olive branch to members of Congress who for four years obstructed his every move in order to make him a one-term President? Some Republicans in the Senate are clueless while a few others have figured it out:

"I do come away with hope, as long as from the bully pulpit, he speaks the same way in the days ahead as he did today," said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa.). [...]

Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said that the White House would need to reach out to Republicans in Congress if the challenges of the debt and deficit were actually going to get addressed.

"The part I liked is when he emphasized working together -- that's what we need," Hoeven said. [...]

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the longest-serving GOP senator, said there were certainly things he differed with in the speech, but that overall he found a positive message. "It was a together agenda as far as I can see," Hatch said.

At least some Republicans in the Senate get it -- maybe there is a glimmer that a small group can grow into a bigger group and take back the GOP from the hard right Tea Party, John Birchers, Koch Brothers and wealthy donors. Will they take a stand against the hard right or bow to their wishes or when the chips are down in the Senate continuing to vote the way they are told by the hard right? The jury is out on that one.

There is so little honesty left in so many of today's hard right Tea Party elected officials that you have to wonder what is going to happen in the future with one party becoming more irrelevant by the day. That is not good for the Country but then the GOP wants to change rhetoric not its hard right beliefs which is not going to work as voters will be able to see right through them.

GOP needs to start listening to people like General Powell who understands what is needed or they will become irrelevant if they don't stop parroting what Rush/Hannity/Fox News are saying. Don't know how many times during the last election Rush/Hannity would say something on their shows, it ends up on Fox News, and next day the GOP candidates are spouting the exact words. That needs to end today but am not hopeful as the hard right seems to have complete control of the GOP and its office holders except for a few willing to speak out like General Powell, Michael Steele, Joe Scarborough, Jon Huntsman, and Mark McKinnon. We need a lot more to speak out and take the Party back more to center right or they will become the true minority party -- that is a guarantee.